Atticus Gathers Its Own List Of Top Books

MIDDLETOWN — Just inside the door at Atticus Book Store-Cafe is a growing list that represents a minor act of rebellion against the canon of modern literature and its self-styled keepers.

It is a subversive list of best books and authors as determined by local readers, and it is very unlike the famous, even notorious, roster of books after which it is loosely modeled -- that of the Modern Library.

``I would agree more with our list than with theirs,'' said Sally Simonds, an employee at Atticus, the city's largest bookstore.

In the weeks since the Modern Library published its list of the 100 best English-language fiction books written this century, the people who compiled it have been decried as a group of stodgy old white guys.

A tsunami of editorials and letters to various editors -- some derisive, others merely skeptical -- has appeared. In the pages of the New Yorker, even one of the judges, William Styron, characterized the panel as ``entirely white, predominately male, and somewhat doddering,'' and called the resulting list ``weird.''

Local author Amy Bloom, whose short stories have been anthologized in the ``Best American Short Stories'' of 1991 and 1992, criticized even the idea of such a list.

``I think they are clearly silly and mildly pernicious,'' Bloom said. ``But, it's easy to say they're pernicious if you're not on the list.''

The people who run Atticus have taken the matter into their own hands, and are seeking the help of their customers in compiling their list.

Bloom, a family therapist in Durham, called the Atticus list a great idea.

``Everybody should have their own list,'' said Bloom. ``In fact, everybody does have their own list, it's just that most people don't care what's on other people's lists.''

The Atticus list includes more books by female authors, more books by recent authors and more books by experimental authors. It even includes such authors as the French existentialist Albert Camus, whose books were not actually written in English.

The list, whose pages are crowded with annotation, includes Thomas Pynchon, Amy Tan and Toni Morrison, none of whom made the cut at Modern Library.

Charles Bukowski, Ken Kesey and Gabriel Garcia Marquez also made the list, as did John Updike and Frank McCourt, of recent fame.

Like the Modern Library list, Atticus patrons have not named any of the city's local authors, among whose ranks is Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard.

Bookstore manager Elaine Dixon said author Paul Horgan, who died in 1995, has been mentioned, but his name has not yet been added to the list.

But there is still plenty of room for Horgan and who knows how many others, she said. In keeping with the spirit of the list, Dixon said she does not plan to limit the top 100 titles to, strictly speaking, 100 titles.